Древняя Русь и Скандинавия: Избранные труды

To get accepted or rejected as a historical source, the episode needs a special and thorough investigation which is far beyond the scope of this article. Still, it is worth noting that even the episodes which can be believed the compiler’s own compositions on even more serious grounds, like that retelling about the quarrel of Ingigerd and Jaroslav, turn out to derive from a current tradition. Recent studies of Jaroslav’s policy in the Baltic in the 1010s and 1020s showed his acute interest in the situation there and his eff orts to secure the interests of Rus’. Suffi ce it to mention a few facts. In 1018 or 1019 Jaroslav married his son Ilia to Estrid, the sister of Knut the Great, and in 1019 he himself married Ingigerd, the daughter of the Swedish konung Olaf. The matrimonial connections fastened political and military alliance between Rus’, Denmark and Sweden directed against Poland[1255]. In the early 1020s the situation in Scandinavia changed, and a new Swedish konung Anund-Jacob (since 1022) united with Olaf Haraldsson which led to military confrontation between Denmark and a Swedish-Norwegian coalition. In this new political context Rus’ supported the latter as in 1028 Olaf Haraldsson, defeated by Knut, could fi nd refuge in Rus’. The death of Olaf in 1030 did not seem to change the relations between Rus’ and Scandinavian countries. Magnus’s stay with Jaroslav until 1035 and the mentions of hostility between Jaroslav and Svein Alfi fason in many sagas speak for the pro-Norwegian orientation of Jaroslav. The banishment of Svein and the restoration of Olaf’s son agree well with the policy of Jaroslav. If this is the case, the narration about Jaroslav sending men to campaign for Magnus might have been derived from a genuine tradition. Like the previous episodes, this one might also be not an exact account of real events but rather an elaboration of the tradition which grew on the basis of and refl ected a real situation. Consequently the narration, probably invented, presented if not the truth of facts, then the truth of the situation.

However, be the trustworthiness of the retelling about Jaroslav’s participation in Magnus’s return to Norway as it may, the narration about the brothers’ voyage to Rus’ constitutes a special story in itself. A trade voyage to Rus’ was a topic widely spread in kings’ and family sagas as trade connections of Scandinavian countries and Rus’, fi rst and foremost Novgorod, were regular and numerous. Descriptions of these voyages are usually stereotyped. They stress the richness of the Novgorodian market, the profi tability of the trade for Scandinavians, and name the most desirable merchandise, Russian furs, Byzantine cloths, Arabic precious utensils. The narration about the voyage of Karl and Björn lacks all these stereotypes and provides a picture quite diff erent from the usual one.